Marshall held on to its No. 8 spot in MAC standings by edging out the NIU women’s basketball team 58-55 Sunday.

With the score tied at 47 and 2:49 remaining in the game, Marshall (14-10 overall, 6-7 MAC) took the lead on a three-pointer by Sikeetha Shepard-Hall, who added two free throws on the next play. Shepard-Hall scored 10 of her 22 points in the final three minutes of the game.

“She played a near-perfect game and was really the deciding factor down the stretch,” NIU coach Carol Hammerle said. “She hit the three-pointer, and then we gave up too much penetration at the end. The game came down to the last few minutes and we didn’t execute as well as we needed to.”

The top eight seeds are given home-court advantage for the opening round of the MAC tournament.

NIU (10-15, 5-9) held a 27-26 lead after scoring seven unanswered points before halftime. The lead changed between teams eight times throughout the game, with neither team enjoying more than a six point lead.

The Thundering Herd shot 48.8 percent (21-of-43) from the field and made 11 of 14 free throws. Marshall entered the day ranked last in the MAC at 62.5 percent from the free-throw line. NIU shot 10 of 17 and 37.7 percent from the field.

“We did a lot of good things and got to the line, but then we didn’t make the shots,” Hammerle said. “This was a game with a lot of what-ifs, and we didn’t execute where it counted the most.”

Marshall also out-rebounded the Huskies 35 to 26. NIU senior Jennifer Youngblood led the Huskies with 11 rebounds, adding eight points. Joi Scott led NIU with 15 points, while Lindsay Secrest and Stephanie Raymond added 11 and 10 respectively.